


Upwards and Down (It's an Estimation)

by airplanejam



Category: Avengers Assemble (Cartoon), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-10-13 01:23:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20574149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/airplanejam/pseuds/airplanejam
Summary: There’s a little bit of pink dusting the tops of Steve’s cheeks as he finishes speaking.It must be the adrenaline.“Really?” Tony says, “You know two people smarter than me?” because he can’t let Steve know that he’s glowing from the praise. Tony has a reputation to maintain, after all.“Can’t you just take a compliment?”He thinks Steve sees right through him.Then the cabal starts moving beneath them, and it’s time to get back to work....Where Tony is stuck in a submarine with Red Skull, MODOK, Attuma, a trident, and a whole lot of pining for a certain supersoldier.





	Upwards and Down (It's an Estimation)

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place in s1e13 of Avengers Assemble, "In Deep". Edited only by me! Enjoy :)

They’re in the vents -- when are they not in the vents? -- watching MODOK and Red Skull throw insults back and forth for what feels like ages. 

Steve kneels right next to Tony because there isn’t much room in their makeshift hideout, but Tony definitely isn’t complaining. He does wish that the vent walls were maybe a little closer together. Just enough that he would have an excuse to push his shoulder against Steve’s. 

It is what it is. He’ll take what he can get.

Attuma’s henchmen show up below them, announcing something about a trident, and Skull and MODOK have to stop arguing long enough to listen. 

Tony is glad for the interruption. Listening to MODOK talk in any situation is like nails on a chalkboard.

When Tony glances up, he finds Steve giving him his signature disappointed Captain America look. He’s been doing it since Tony lost the armor. Cap’s got his heart set on a plan.

Tony hates that look. “Look, I admit it. If you hadn’t come up with this plan to infiltrate the cabal, we never would’ve learned how serious this was getting,” he sighs.

“But…?” 

Steve doesn’t get it. He’s a national treasure, in and out of the uniform. He’s as good as Steve Rogers as he is as Captain America. Tony can’t compare to that. No one can. 

“With my armor gone, all I can do is improvise. Steve, even without your shield, you’re still Captain America. Without my armor, I’m just-”

“-Tony Stark,” Steve interrupts. “The Tony Stark. Billionaire, genius. You’re probably one of the three smartest men in the entire world. You’re as tough as they come. You invented hardcore. The Avengers are lucky you’re on our side.” There’s a little bit of pink dusting the tops of Steve’s cheeks as he finishes speaking. 

It must be the adrenaline. 

“Really?” Tony says, “You know two people smarter than me?” because he can’t let Steve know that he’s glowing from the praise. Tony has a reputation to maintain, after all.

“Can’t you just take a compliment?” 

He thinks Steve sees right through him. 

Then the cabal starts moving beneath them, and it’s time to get back to work.

…

Red Skull is spouting some more of the usual shit about world domination and the downfall of the Avengers as Steve and Tony crouch behind them and watch. 

“Okay, I’ve got a plan,” says Tony. Steve is going to hate this.

“What is it?” Steve sounds surprised. 

“Get caught.”

“Wait!” he whisper-yells, but Tony’s already up and revealing their position with a flourish.

Red Skull’s eyes go wide at first, but then his mouth spreads in a wide grin. “Tony Stark and Steve Rogers!” 

From behind him, Steve hisses, “Not sure I’m seeing the brilliance of this plan yet, Tony.”

Tony knows what he’s doing. Mostly. “You’re just not looking close enough, Steve.”

...

There’s some screaming and yelling. Steve punches Tony and then winks. Red Skull breaks the submarine with his trident. Tony drops some specifically worded comments and the entire cabal turns on each other. Tony gets his armor back. It’s almost too easy.

Except, of course, then Red Skull has to form some kind of stupid water monster with his stupid Neptune’s trident, and it gets Tony. It pushes him against the wall and squeezes and squeezes and he can’t get out, he can’t move. 

He thinks he hears Steve beneath him yelling his name. Steve’s eyes are wide. He looks scared. He’s too far away to help. 

Tony can’t breathe. He’s about to black out. He thinks about Steve’s face. 

Out of nowhere, Attuma appears and punches Red Skull. “You think too small, Skull!” he yells, and the water holding Tony collapses when Attuma snatches the trident. Tony has never been so glad to be considered insignificant. 

The submarine starts to rock as Attuma does _something_ with the trident, but then Steve is there, doing a series of impressively graceful flips. He snatches the trident right out of Attuma’s hands and snaps it in half over a very muscled thigh. 

That’s when things really start going wrong. 

They obliterate the trident, and now, according to Attuma, the ocean is angry at them. Or something. The submarine has started spinning in violent circles, and Tony thinks it’s about time to get out of there. He grabs Steve, holding him close to his chest. They steal out of the sub through the broken windows, courtesy of Skull. 

The holding Steve part is nice, and wow, there’s a wildly irrelevant thought. 

They make it out of the water with difficulty, fighting against the currents, but the air is no better. The storm is upon them, winds easily tossing them around.

Tony can’t keep going. The armor is malfunctioning. It shuts down. This is it. They aren’t going to make it out of this one. Tony never even got to tell Steve how he feels. Tony is going to be the reason Steve dies. 

His plan wasn’t enough - fuck, it was barely even a plan in the first place - and now it’s over and it’s his fault. Steve was right, just like he always is, and Tony thought he knew best, just like he always does. 

“Steve, I’m sorry,” he shouts. “My armor - it’s not enough.” It should’ve been someone else on this mission with Steve. Someone who wouldn’t have let him down. Natasha should’ve gone, or Sam, or even Thor. Tony never meant for this to happen.

Steve is going to be lost to the ocean again - and Tony didn’t even realize that. Being here can’t have been easy for him. Captain America lost his first life to the water, and now he’s going to go under again. He can’t hold on to Steve any longer without the added strength of the armor. He tries, but the wind wrenches Steve out of his grasp, and they’re both falling backwards, down, back to the water.

Strangely, Steve doesn’t look upset. “Don’t worry!” He yells to Tony. 

“Why not?” he says, mouth on autopilot. “Seems like a good time.”

“When MODOK’s power damper was destroyed, I called them!” Steve says, raising a finger to point at the Avengers’ quinjet hurtling towards them, and it’s going to be okay. 

Steve has Tony covered. He can’t help but feel a sense of pride - that’s his Captain that saved them. 

… 

“Where’s the cabal?” Nat says, once they’re all back in the safety of the quinjet.

Tony and Steve share a look. “Twenty thousand leagues under the sea,” Tony says, “reevaluating their partnership.”

Steve just smirks. 

“I’m surprised you guys survived each other, much less the cabal,” Nat says, one eyebrow raised. 

If only they knew. “I recently learned that it doesn’t hurt to have a plan sometimes,” he says. 

Steve catches his eye and smiles, all golden hair and blue eyes. “Now, isn’t that ironic, Iron Man, because I learned that sometimes you should just follow your gut.”

Tony has to carefully try very hard not to beam. 

“So, like, are you pals gonna hug now, or what?” Clint quips from the pilot’s seat, effectively ruining the moment. 

Tony might still be a little high off the adrenaline. He thinks Steve looks like he would be nice to hug, with all his broad shoulders and strong arms.

“Why are you still wearing my uniform?” Steve says to Clint instead of responding, far more composed than Tony. 

…

In the back of the quinjet, Tony sits making unnecessary repairs to his armor. He could do this back at the Tower, but he felt it important to flee from the team after this mission in particular. Normally he would rather be piloting - well, ensuring that the jet’s autopilot was working properly - but he was fairly sure that if he stayed next to Steve any longer, he wouldn’t be able to hold back from blurting out some embarrassing things about his feelings. 

So much for suave and flirty Tony Stark, genius billionaire. 

He thinks maybe Steve has always seen right through him. When he made to disband the Avengers after they rescued Cap all those months ago, Clint and Nat and Thor and Hulk all put it straight down to his ego. Steve was the only one who stayed in the room long enough to ask why. 

Tony may be the one who makes the call to assemble, but Steve holds them together in a way that no one else can. 

Steve has been holding Tony together for a long time. 

He hears footsteps coming towards him, and quickly pushes his thoughts aside. He turns on the bench to look up at the doorway, wiping a bit of grease off the undersuit. It’s Steve who walks through the door, apparently unsuccessful in getting his uniform back from Clint. The Crossbones outfit does wonders for his body. Tony imagines peeling him out of it. 

“Hey, Tony,” Steve says to him. “How’s the armor?”

“Oh, you know.” Tony doesn't know what he's saying. “Just some small repairs. Nothing major.”

“Good.” Steve nods. “You did good today. We make a swell team.”

“Oh yeah, for sure,” he says, because of course, he’s glad that the Avengers were there to pull through and cover his ass, “Thor and Hulk really caught us in time, didn’t they-”

“Actually,” Steve interrupts, “I meant you and me. I would never have been successful without Iron Man on this mission. I’m glad it was you with me.”

Tony blinks. “I, uh. Me too.”

He studies Tony, as if looking for something in his face. Tony doesn’t know what it is, but Steve seems to find it, and the smile that lights up his face this time is slow and almost private. 

“Shellhead,” he says, a little quietly, “c’mere.”

Tony doesn’t know what’s coming but his heart is beating fast in his chest and well, if Steve calls him, he’s going to go. 

He stands, not sure how close Steve means, but once Tony’s just outside his personal space, Steve puts his hands on Tony’s biceps and draws him closer. 

Tony can see each of Steve’s eyelashes. They’re golden and light enough that they’re invisible from afar. 

It’s not like they haven’t been this close before. They’ve been closer. Tony has fallen asleep on Steve during movie nights more often than he’d admit, and Cap has carried his armorless body out of countless battles, but it's never like this. 

“What are you doing, Steve?” His voice sounds breathless, even to his own ears. 

“What I wanted to say, back in the vents was. Well.” Steve seems to be turning red, and isn’t that a sight. “Not that the Avengers are lucky to have you, but that I am. Lucky. Not as Iron Man, but as Tony Stark. As both. And, actually, I was wondering if I could have a little bit more of you, if you’re willing. If you’d like to, uh, go on a date with me sometime.”

Tony hears a roaring in his ears. He thinks it’s probably his heart. 

He reaches up, and very slowly wraps his hands around the back of Steve’s neck, giving him time to pull away. Steve doesn’t. 

Tony tilts his head back and then finally, they’re kissing. 

Steve comes alive when their lips meet, all earlier nervousness gone. It’s nothing like Tony thought it would be. He imagined Steve would kiss like he leads - sure and determined, stubborn and decided. Instead, Steve kisses him sweetly, softly, as if Tony might be something precious, as if he doesn’t know that this is the best moment of Tony’s entire life. 

When they pull apart for air, Tony says hoarsely, “I won’t ask you if you’re sure about this, Cap. You know how I am.”

“You’re what I want,” Steve says, pressing a protective kiss to Tony’s cheek. 

They’re silent for a moment, until Tony asks, “Why now? Did you know how I felt about you all along?”

Steve looks sheepish. “I may have guessed. When Skull had me - that time he made us switch bodies - you were so good to me, and so worried . . .”

“Oh my god,” Tony laughs. “All this time. I never thought you’d feel the same way.”

This is what it’s like to be drunk, except not at all, it’s without any of the bad parts, it’s like flying and floating and zero-gravity. It’s the closest to perfection Tony has ever been. 

“That was going to be my line,” Steve says lightly, and Tony has to kiss him for it. 

They stand together in the back of the quinjet. The sun might be setting, or maybe it’s rising. 

They’re going to be fine.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fic that I've actually ever completed. If you're still here, I love you! Constructive criticism is very much appreciated. Also please tell me if you see any glaring errors. Kudos are appreciated <3


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